Saturday, June 29, 2013

Washington Monthly Vs Washington Monthly

Bare Knuckle Brawl in Ten Miles Square

I read Ed Kilgore every day and think very highly of him. However there are two topics on which we disagree -- welfare reform and the DLC. The DLC doesn't exist anymore so I won't bore any potential readers discussing it. But I was struck by what I saw when I surfed to Kilgore's blog and commented.

Grinding a new ax. This is off topic and I would understand if you delete it. I tend to agree with you but very very strongly contest your post criticizing Jason deParle and Ezra Klein for criticizing welfare reform.

According to figures recently released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, nearly a quarter of U.S. children live below the poverty line, compared with15 percent of Americans generally - and that number keeps growing."[skip]But perhaps the most unsettling part of the new numbers is the fact that increasing child poverty is a trend that seems immune to the factors that should be reining it in.[skip]Whatever the causes of this disturbing trend, public policy needs to keep up. Recent reports, for instance, point to a thirteen year-long decline in the purchasing power of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and budget cuts to social programs can only worsen the increase. Now is not the time to do away with the support that could raise up the poorest group of Americans - children.

The concluding paragraph. But now is not the time to sharpen old axes by discussing the latest data and certainly not the time to question the decision to replace AFDC with a block grant.